Terry Beech, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport travelled to Prince Rupert to make the investment announcement at the Port Interpretive Centre. (Matthew Allen / The Northern View)

Government invests nearly $22M in northern B.C. port

Three projects will benefit to improve trade through the north west trade corridor

The federal government is injecting $21.9 million into Canada’s second largest container port to improve its capacity.

Terry Beech, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport travelled to Prince Rupert to make the announcement at the Port Interpretive Centre.

Three Port of Prince Rupert projects will benefit from this investment to improve rail delays, and increase flow of traffic and terminal capability.

“The port now 5,000 jobs in the region and a lot of those jobs are right here in Prince Rupert,” said port CEO Shaun Stevenson, discussing the importance of expanding the port’s involvement in the area.

The biggest investment is $15 million for the two-lane road to connect Fairview Terminal to Ridley Island industrial site. This will divert truck traffic from downtown Prince Rupert. The project is meant to improve travel times from approximately 30 minutes to eight minutes.

There will be $3.7 million for new rail tracks to feed into new terminals along the Road Rail Utility Corridor.

Another $3.7 million will go toward renovating tracks along the the Zanardi Rail Bridge to improve delays. The bridge is on the north end of Ridley Island and the rail entrance of the port.

“Our government is investing in Canada’s economy by making improvements to our trade and transportation corridors. We are supporting projects that will efficiently move commercial goods to market and people to their destinations, stimulate economic growth, create quality middle-class jobs, and ensure that Canada’s transportation networks remain competitive and efficient,” said Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, in the press release.